


A Different Kind of Luck

by paperwar



Category: Natsume Yuujinchou
Genre: Gen, Hiking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-03-18
Updated: 2012-03-18
Packaged: 2017-11-02 03:26:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,056
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/364465
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/paperwar/pseuds/paperwar
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nishimura's looking for a lucky charm. Natsume may just have found his, even if neither of them realize it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Different Kind of Luck

**Author's Note:**

  * For [aishiteru](https://archiveofourown.org/users/aishiteru/gifts).



> Aishiteru, this isn't exactly "dire peril" as per your request, but I hope this treat gives you a chuckle anyway!

They'd been hiking for a couple of hours now, Nishimura intent on making the most of the day and Kitamoto steadily reining him in every time he raced too far ahead. Their goal, or Nishimura's goal, at least, was a spot he said would bring luck. Natsume assumed Nishimura meant luck in love, which sounded more likely than streams running soda, so he was happy enough to trail along. 

Except they were heading towards a part of the mountains that had Natsume hunching his shoulders and darting his eyes around him every other second. But Nishimura had been so full of his usual buoyant good humor that Natsume couldn't bear to turn down the invitation. It had been months with no further reports of exorcist activity nearby. Perhaps Matoba had abandoned the area.

"Ahhhhh," Nishimura said, stretching his arms over his head. "It's such a beautiful day! Aren't you glad you came along with us, Natsume?" The sky, it was true, arced above them in a wide azure bowl, untroubled by a single cloud. Chilly in the morning, enough so that all three of them left home with jackets on, the air had warmed and they'd long since shed them. 

Nishimura stepped over to the side of the path, bending over and picking up a piece of paper. He crumpled it in his fist. "Look at this, though! I hate when people litter!" Hopping forward, he scowled. "Here's another one! And another one! My parents are always mumbling about how things were better in the old days, but sometimes I think they must be right. Probably some little kids threw these around. What are they, some kind of paper doll?" He halfway uncrumpled one to examine it, then shook his head. "No excuse. Why would you throw them away out here? Why would you even have them out here to begin with?"

Natsume's eyes widened as he glimpsed what was in Nishimura's hand. A rough, angular paper doll, yes, but not a simple child's toy. It was an exorcist's tool. He shivered. It didn't look very old, not like he'd expect paper to look if it had been lying at the foot of a tree for months.

Kitamoto held out his hand to Nishimura, chuckling. "You sound like a grandfather. Here, give them to me. I'll put them in my bag until we get back." 

After handing the paper over, Nishimura looked at Natsume with concern. "Are you all right? You look pale." 

"Natsume, are you cold? Put your jacket back on or something," Kitamoto suggested.

Natsume offered them a weak smile; it didn't even come close to making it to his eyes, but he hoped they wouldn't notice. "I'm fine." The dolls were probably old, anyway. How long did it take paper to start breaking down and decaying? Probably ages. He put more energy into his smile. "You're right; it is a beautiful day."

The three friends kept progressing onwards, Nishimura calling out every time he found a landmark that he recognized. "We'll get there soon," he promised. "And then we'll be showered in luck!" They stood for a moment, panting, at the top of an incline they'd just climbed. Here the path opened out again, the land flattening out temporarily before continuing its reach for the sky. "Look at that!" Nishimura rushed forward. He tripped and went flying. "Ow, ow, ow." 

"Are you all right?" Kitamoto and Natsume said in chorus. 

"What happened?" Kitamoto added, looking down. "Did you trip on a vine or something?"

Nishimura nodded, grimacing. "I'm fine," he grumbled, brushing off his shirt and standing up. "What a pain; now I've scared away that fox."

"Fox?" Natsume said, scanning the horizon. He didn't see anything.

There was a patch of mud on Nishimura's knee; he grabbed a leaf and started wiping it off. He squinted at the ground and squatted down. "Oh!" He pulled up a length of rope.

It was broken in the middle where Nishimura had hit it. Natsume's eyes widened as he saw that there were more paper dolls tied at uneven intervals on the rope.

"How inconsiderate!" Nishimura yelped. He began coiling up the rope. There was a lot of it. "Why do people leave these things lying around?" He gestured at the paper dolls. "And what did they use it for? Some kind of festival? It's a little weird. And I didn't know they had any of those over on this side of the mountain." He scowled. "Still, how rude! Someone could really get hurt!"

"I can't carry that all the way out," Kitamoto said, so he and Nishimura shoved the bundle of rope under a bush.

"Natsume?" Kitamoto said. "Are you sure you're all right?" 

Natsume shrugged and murmured a disclaimer. But that rope hadn't been very old, either, barely weathered at all. He shivered.

After another hour or so, it was clear that Nishimura wasn't able to find the legendary lucky spot, to his loud dismay. But otherwise their hike was uneventful: just some friends enjoying the weather and each other's company. As they left the area, Natsume's skin prickled. He couldn't be sure why, but he was just grateful to be heading back home.

**

A couple of days later, had they been doing the same hike, they would've seen a man with long hair, not that much older than them, stalking through the trees. "This one is down too," he muttered, yanking at the rope he found in the brush. He stared at it. "Too clumsy." It hadn't been broken by anyone with power. He'd sensed the disturbance at the time, but the action had felt bland, neutral, like an animal happened to chew on the rope. Still, it didn't feel coincidental that his wards had been broken.

Perhaps whoever was responsible had someone without power do it for them. Someone ignorant. It was such a ridiculous idea -- how could they set that up? -- that he was half-convinced that this was what had happened. Did it have to do with that boy, or not? There hadn't been any other supernatural disturbances around, no trails of power, no signals of any presences he wanted to monitor.

He considered for a moment, then his expression shifted to sly cruel interest. He'd find out what was going on. In the meantime, he would enjoy the game.


End file.
